Stranger finds woman's 12.5 carat wedding ring

A Missouri couple is thanking their local trash company after it helped them find a wedding ring worth nearly half a million dollars.

Carla Squitieri realized she had tossed her wedding ring in the trash when it was already too late.

"I said 'the trash man's gone already, he left five hours ago.'"

The garbage had been collected and her 12.5 carat wedding ring was on its way to the landfill when she and her husband, Bernie, called Meridian Waste Services to alert the company.

The couple convinced Meridian to divert the truck to a facility where they could search through the trash for the ring. The waste company's operations manager, Joe Evans, said he left his post and drove to the facility to help the couple.

Less than half an hour later, Evans found Carla's ring and wedding band inside the bag of the couple's trash.

The couple said they were impressed by Evans' honesty, saying he could've easily slipped the ring into his pocket, but instead chose to turn it in.